Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

Walking in Light: A peek at Physical culture

Aspiration. For every move, every stride forward, in anything and everything, it appears then, that it is aspiration that is the seed, the initiate behind a driving force. What is aspiration then? Is it an asking? It is a yearning? Is it a desire, a want? It appears to be some of all these, in small bits, and yet, stands out amongst these little things, high, lofty and mighty. Aspiration. It is a sweet, soft word that holds in it all the forces of change. To aspire for something appears to be an asking for something more than for oneself, more than oneself. It has the distinct shades of a more self-less seeking, a searching more from within and an intense need put across to the highest one can perceive in one’s consciousness or even in one’s imagination. It appears that when one aspires, one, without exception, can only aspire for the highest ideal one can perceive. That alone puts aspiration above all other wants and needs.

This aspiration that flowers from within has to come out of a deeply felt need, understood by the mind, perceived by the heart as the inevitable, indispensable. Then perhaps, there is hope for the physical, made of grosser material, to be held up to the light to be transformed into perfection’s form?

Who is the one who will ask for physical perfection or fitness, and when? Would one ask for physical well being after decades of ill-use and misuse and abuse of a docile instrument that can potentially move mountains, and an inevitable carrier, a cradle for and a sheath around the evolving soul that is carried from birth to greater birth? And who asks for this perfection and well-being?

Yes, everyone wants a happy and healthy body that would serve him or her well in life. But the body follows a material law. It needs understanding of how it works, and how best to put it to its best use. But again, what is best use? To what use do we want to put our body to? This calls for introspection. This question drives us back to what we think to be our purpose of existence upon this earth. To whom or what do we want to dispose ourselves to?

And it probably matters little where and in what station we are in life. Karma takes place, inevitably, work carries on. But what we do and how we do something takes on a greater meaning with the understanding of why we do something. And to top it up, with what attitude we do something. These introspections, if not anything more, will at least remove unnecessary activities we indulge in, for once one is focused on one’s goals in life, one’s path is more or less laid down. Our goal then, might as well be a high one, worth our birth here. Physical activities take a beautiful turn once our aim and purpose in life are ascertained through conscious choices based on faith and trust in the highest.

Sri Aurobindo states: “…it is only on the basis of peace and calm that the true progress and realization can come. There must be no vital excitement in your seeking or your aspiration towards the Mother”

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